Never forget how far you have come

Unkown Author

Dear Parents,

Thank you for bringing your babies to worship. When I was a young mom, we were encouraged to bring our babies to the nursery, not the sanctuary, so I missed out on cuddling my newborn while Psalms were read and songs were sung. Seeing you rock your little one to sleep from across the aisle reminds us that God’s family includes all ages.

I’m glad you’re taking your toddlers along too. One Sunday during worship I saw a 2-year old-girl passed lovingly from one set of arms to another all the way down the row from where she had been sitting with her mom. Everyone wanted a chance to hold her as she waved her hands to the music and watched her father play the keyboard at the front of the sanctuary. Watching each person extend their arms toward this little one and ask, “me too?” was like watching our baptismal promises come to life.

Thank you for including your preschoolers. When little Dakota and Ayo spontaneously held each other’s hands last week and began dancing in the aisles to the beat of the music, they showed us what it means to worship God with joyful abandon. And when Lily makes her way over to her grandpa, climbs up on his lap, and looks at him while he sings songs of praise, the two of them are painting a beautiful picture of one generation calling to the next.

I’m so glad you’re looking for opportunities to involve your children in worship. I can’t think of a better way for God’s family to enter the church building on a Sunday morning than by shaking your hand and receiving a high-five from your child. You taught your child what it means to give back the day he opened his zipper sealed plastic bag and poured the coins he’d collected into the offering for the hurricane victims he’d seen on the news.

During baptism, when your child joins the crowd that comes forward to pray for and lay hands on the person who was baptized, he knows he belongs and we’re getting a live snapshot of what it means to be an intergenerational body of believers. Thank you for making morning announcements, while your son clings to your leg and your daughter holds your hand. You’re teaching them that talking to God’s family isn’t so different from sharing a story around the kitchen table.

Speaking of supper, participating in the Lord’s Supper with your kids nurtures our faith as it nurtures theirs. Lining up with believers of all ages to receive the elements, and observing an adult get down on one knee to make eye contact with a child to say, “Jesus gave his life for you, Evan,” reminds us that Jesus died for all of us. Watching a girl balance her pink plastic purse on one arm, as she carefully walks back to her seat while carrying a precious piece of bread and a ready-to-overflow cup of juice, reminds us what a special and abundant gift we’re receiving.

Parenting is hard work. I know that some Sundays you’re just longing to sit in silence. And I suspect that there have been times when you’ve felt like your wee ones weren’t always welcome in worship. Please persist. Because, in addition to the blessings your children bring to us as God’s family when we worship together, you’re training your child to do the one thing we get to do forever: worship (Robbie Castleman, Parenting in the Pew).

Children learn by observing. But they learn even more by participating. So keep coming. Keep trying. We’re glad you’re here.

Have you ever asked yourself, “What is sanctification?” WestMinister Bible Dictionary on “Sanctification” provides a clear and concise answer.

According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism (Q. 35), sanctification is “the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” It is a continuing change worked by God in us, freeing us from sinful habits and forming in us Christlike affections, dispositions, and virtues. It does not mean that sin is instantly eradicated, but it is also more than a counteraction, in which sin is merely restrained or repressed without being progressively destroyed. Sanctification is a real transformation, not just the appearance of one.”

The basic meaning of “sanctify” is to set apart to God, for His use

Romans 8:29 NKJV

29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

This moral renovation, in which we are increasingly changed from what we once were, flows from the agency of the indwelling Holy Spirit

Romans 8:13 NKJV

13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

So What is It To be Sanctified?

Its A Real experience that is a process that takes a Worldly sinful wicked man Like Me and Takes us to become full of the fruits of the spirit

Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Its a process It takes Time Everybody is different we have different life situations different childhoods different cultures different trials and tribulations

So the pace we experience Sanctification is different for each person.

I can not grab you a pull you along and say ok lets go you should be here I want you on my level and more than I can do that with my wife or children

This doesn't give the freedom to sin But WE have to have grace when young believers slip back into sin

Romans 6:1–8 NKJV

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

When you mothers had your children that moment that sweet little baby was born was was the first thing you did, listened for a cry right ............. yes we listen for the cry of the new born babe, isnt it a blessing when you hear that cry you know right then that they are ok, you know that they are breathing that they were not born mute or with any other major deformities, How precious was that babies cry, Now remember when you took your children to church, did they always act right were they angels in the pews were you a angel in the pew probably not kids like new believers have to grow.

My Dad would take me out when i was four or five when I had been acting up and sometimes i got a whooping when I was really out of control but do we do this for a baby 6 months or a year

Same for the New believer there is and must be grace as we have with the young children with the new believers allowing them to grow and mature and holding them to more account as they grow but we definitely do not expect a baby born on Sunday next week to walk through this door and preach the sermon so it is with the babes in christ .

1 Thessalonians 5:11 NKJV

11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

Hebrews 10:22–26 NKJV

22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

Galatians 6:1–2 NKJV

1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

1 John 4:7–20 NKJV

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

Ephesians 4:7 NKJV

7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.